Can Lithium Crank a Heavy Duty Diesel Engine? || LILEAD Dual-Purpose Battery

In this video, we test out our new LILEAD LiFePO4 Starting Battery to find out if it is truly capable of the 800 Cranking Amps Rating it is given. For the test, we try it on our Ford 7.3L diesel engine since this motor requires tons of power for the glow plugs, and cranking alone! We figured it would a good match for this test - mainly to see if this battery can even crank, or outperform the current two 12v lead-acid batteries under the hood! The truck was a great test for this battery; however, it was a bit more abusive than this battery is intended to be subjected to.

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[vtorsi]

What happens when the battery is fully charged and the BMS disconnects the battery from the alternator? Is that OK?

[USA-GreedyMenOfNoIntegrity]

What are the two extra cables on the top front of battery going to?

These are a no go on many vehicles due to temperature limits. “**Please note that this battery does not have low-temperature charging protection in order to prevent loss of power in mobile applications. Please avoid using this battery in subzero conditions without sufficient insulation.” They should have mentioned a silicone heat pad will be needed too.

It can fry your alternator trying to recharge them.

I installed one on a 540 cuin aircraft engine. It started great, but would overload the little 60 Amp alternator to recharge after one start. The bat weight decreased from 26 to 4 lbs. Back to the original.

[KSSilenceAU]

Heya! Love the videos!

It's Interesting that you tested this now, and I'm actually a little surprised that you were quite surprised the truck started from the Lifepo4 battery, I knew it would just fine.

You See I actually have an 800CCA 40AH LifePO4 Unit (Made by EVpower Aus and has 16x 10AH Headway Cells in a 4S4P config internally) in one of my car's, and it works VERY Well. I've even drained it down into the "reserve capacity" where the BMS Isolates it to hold about 10% left, Activated the Emergency reserve and been able to start the 3L V6 engine with ease.
If my 40AH unit can start a car in the cold when its nearly flat, I would very much expect a 105AH Unit to start a diesel without any issues.
One thing I learned about mine though is that the BMS is Simple and only cares about overall voltage. Crank for more than about 10s and the voltage sag will cause the BMS to cut out, i learned this while doing compression testing where you need to crank a lot.
If you have an engine that is hard starting.... Give up at about 5-8 seconds cranking, Wait a few more, then try again, and that should stop Nuisance BMS tripping, or cooking of the starter for that matter.

There is one pitfall with lifepo4 for vehicle use though, One thing they dont like is being charged below 0 Degrees, and that *Can* be an issue for those in cold Climates as the alternator will still try to charge, will do so at a higher voltage, meaning you either risk battery damage if the BMS allows it, or alternator damage if the BMS cuts it off (unless you have some capacitors across it to absorb the diode killing spikes).

For my other vehicle, I'm actually about to replace the Dying Lead Acid battery with a Pack made from Lishen LTO (Lithium Titanite) Cells, as they are just as safe as LifePO4 but much more cold tolerant (good for below -20c Charge / discharge). I think I'm going to run them in a 6S Config, though not sure how many strings yet. They are 18AH per Cell, and good for Continuous Discharge at 50C, and Continuous recharge at 15C, so even a single string in theory would work, but likely i will run 2 or 3 strings to have a good capacity reserve.



I'd Love to see you test some LTO Cells actually, and i see BatteryHook did have a batch of the same cells im getting at some point:

If you can source some, could you do some testing for us?

[wadestanion]

Hey.... So... I have a 1999 Ford F-250 Superduty 7.3 L powerstroke.... I have been looking to get new batteries for this and I am wondering what your long term opinion of this battery in this truck is? Where did you purchase this?

[ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt]

Yup. A 4S4P SPIM08HP (12V/32Ah/400Wh) configuration (Li-ion chemistry) delivers 800A (continuous)/1, 600A (peak). Cells, BMS and high current relay? About equal to a SLA starter battery at less than $100. Note that the BMS controls the high current relay for normal loads. However, the BMS is bypassed for starting/jump starting as a suitable contactor adds another ~$200.

One caveat: Alternators are designed for lead acid chemistry charging. Lithium chemistries will consume much higher current that can damage an alternator. For this reason, charge limiting circuity is necessary. A BMS provides this, however, in my example above, the BMS is bypassed to allow the cells to deliver the needed starting current. A separate port BMS would work, however.

As far as the LiLead is concerned, where it really shines is as a dual-use battery. 800CCA for starting, plus 110Ah for supporting "house" loads while camping, etc., while being charged via solar so there's always enough power for engine starting.

[daveerrington]

The battery will get too hot under the hood and the BMS, which is the battery management system will shut down the ability for it to charge or restart. You would have to do a revocation somewhere else inside the vehicle.

[Skrdad]

What are the other 2 leads from the battery connected to? 🤷‍♂️ Another battey😂

[paveljelinek]

Rip battery😂.. you can't charge 1x12V with alternator that gives 24V😂 maan it would fry the battery alive

[snivesz]

Lithium batteries won’t take under hood heat. You’ll want to relocate it.

[trollking]

The Glow in the dark but in the daytime not sure 🤔

[infl]

They have two batteries for more reasons than just cranking amps, those glow plugs have to run quite a while when it gets real cold. But you guys don’t have that problem 😂 What were the original ones, 700cca?

[vtorsi]

What about High "under-the-hood" temperatures? Doesn't high heat reduce the life of LiFePo4 battery?

Two batteries in this truck is for lower temperatures. Lower than 10 F
You can see this, if You leave only one acid battery in this truck. It will crank engine

[SuperVstech]

Just wait for my review of this… OLD 7.3 cranking and cranking… love it. This battery can handle the loads!
Now, I am worried about alternator circuitry, and cold weather, but with block heater plugged in, the engine bay should be above freezing for cold weather operation.

[ImbaCore]

It is all about voltage drop... Acid ones go with voltage way down so they need to push more amps to supply required wats. LiFePO4 can give relative less amps but the voltage will be higher. You can hear the difference.

[Tbn]

An F-350 isn't a heavy duty truck. Heavy duty means tractor trailer. There's a reason the big trucks have four batteries for cranking.

[johngrier]

What’s the limit of the BMS? does it have low temp charge shot off? How is the charging system set up to charge the lithium battery without cooking it?

[KuntalGhosh]

use a normal lead acid as primary starting battery and keep this in the second battery compartment for helping the lead acid start and most importantly reducing self discharge .

[offgridwanabe]

Awesome now come to Canada in January @ -40 and we will test it lol

[guytech]

Starting in the winter or cold weather might be a problem. I believe LiFePo batteries experience a voltage drop at temperatures below 32F (0C)